The timber side railing of McKillops Bridge runs toward the far bank, angled balusters below a diagonal top rail. White paint, weathered and catching strong light. Blurred bushland fills the background. The deck and river gorge fall out of frame.
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The timber railing of McKillops Bridge is not decorative. The balusters are angled, the top rail set on the diagonal, and the whole assembly was designed with runaway cattle in mind on a single-lane crossing 255 metres long and 4.5 metres wide, stretched over the Snowy River in a deep gorge in East Gippsland. This photograph, taken from close along the railing line, shows the weathered white-painted timber catching strong light, the balusters repeating into the distance against blurred bush. McKillops Bridge carries McKillops Road across the Snowy River in the Deddick Valley, near the river's junction with the Deddick River. The Country Roads Board built it in two stages between 1931 and 1935. The first structure, contracted to Gardener Constructions of Melbourne for £11,950, was complete but never opened. On 8 January 1934, a few days before the planned opening, a flash flood off the Victoria and New South Wales border country lifted the superstructure clean off its piers and swept the wreck downstream. The river rose 16 feet above any previously recorded level. Part of the wreckage reached the bridge at Orbost. The replacement was built higher. The piers were raised 15 feet, the open A-frames filled in to shed flood debris, the original abutments converted into additional piers, and the steel trusses cantilevered back to the higher approaches. The five reinforced-concrete A-frame piers carry two parallel electric-arc-welded steel Warren trusses, with a traditional timber stockbridge superstructure above: transoms, longitudinal timber girders, transverse decking, running strips for vehicles, and the substantial side handrails visible in this frame. The bridge opened on 20 December 1935, with about 250 people present. Mrs Lind cut the ribbon; the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. G. Goudie, dedicated the crossing to George McKillop, an overlanding squatter who brought cattle through here in 1835. The crossing had carried stock for the best part of a century before the bridge arrived. Traditionally painted white, the bridge stands on the Victorian Heritage Register (H1849) and holds an Engineering Heritage Marker from Engineers Australia (EHRP-0249, 2019). The railing caught in this 2018 photograph was part of a major timber restoration completed by VicRoads in 2012, with deck planks, handrails, and Armco safety barriers all renewed. It remains the northern access point to Snowy River National Park.
04·FROM THE FIELD NOTES
The railing along McKillops Bridge was built with purpose: a substantial timber barrier, braced and angled, designed to keep runaway cattle on a 255-metre crossing over the Snowy River in East Gippsland. The Country Roads Board opened the bridge on 20 December 1935, after a first structure was torn off its piers by a flash flood on 8 January 1934. The replacement deck was set fifteen feet higher. Painted white, the timber stands out clearly against the deep gorge and surrounding bush of Snowy River National Park.
Brett Patman
The series
McKillops Bridge
1931 to 2025 · 7
photographs
McKillops Bridge carries a single lane across the Snowy River in East Gippsland's Deddick Valley, 255 metres of timber decking on electric-arc-welded steel trusses and five tall concrete piers. The Country Roads Board built it in two attempts between 1931 and 1935. The first bridge was torn off its piers by a flash flood in January 1934, days before its planned opening. The replacement, set 15 feet higher, opened 20 December 1935 and has stood through every flood since.
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